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Windows vs. Ubuntu — Dell's Verdict
Barence writes "Remember how Dell put up a website declaring Ubuntu was safer than Windows, only to later change its mind? Well, the company has gotten right back into the Windows vs. Ubuntu debate with a highly sophisticated website arguing the pros and cons of each OS. People should choose Windows, argues Dell, if: they are already using Windows, are familiar with Windows, or are new to computers. People should choose Ubuntu if they're interested in open-source programming. Brilliant."
...we require hundreds of hours of training (supposedly anyway) to operate a motor vehicle but we require nothing to operate a computer? (Yes I know a computer can't usually kill someone when misused but it still can ruin someone's life.)
AFAIK there should be a training requirement for operating anything other than a kiosk-mode system. _Especially_ basic security.
On some level though that's being handled by learning to use computers in the school system so a large amount of this stuff will fall off when the current generation of offspring come to power. (Though you can also argue that since many of them were trained on Windows the 'sins of the past' so to speak will still haunt us.)
As far as the Dell website is concerned it doesn't even mention Macintosh and regardless of if you love or hate them it's still a glaring omission.
For my money though things like Mint Linux (an Ubuntu flavor) are easy enough for my mother to use and would go a long way towards having to deal with service calls 5 hours away when she runs into a problem. I wouldn't just have her dump her Windows cold though - a dual boot would likely be first.
"Bah!" - Dogbert
switch (AC) { /*writes own byte code*/
case NOT_ADV_USER :
case LOW_ENGLISH_CAPACITY:
case WINDOWS_FANBOY:
case SUPER_ADV_USER:
case TROLL: printf("I'm an advanced user and I don\'t every want to know what a repository is.");
printf(" My mom definitely doesn\'t give a shit.");break;
default: break;
}
$ unzip, strip, touch, finger, grep, mount, fsck, more, yes,fsck,fsck,fsck,umount, sleep
Why isn't there a bullet point for using Ubuntu if you just want a machine to browse the internet? Could Dell at least toss Ubuntu a bone and say "Linux currently suffers from less viruses than Windows"?
Well, this is a good point, but even for that relatively simple job there are big problems with Ubuntu. You only need to flick through the archives of Linux Hater to get some idea of what these are.
When I first visited Linux Hater, I thought I was dealing with extreme ignorance. But it quickly became apparent that he/she is actually an expert authority on software in general and Linux in particular. Familiarity has bred contempt. These days I have to concede that he/she is basically right in most cases. One thing about Linux hasn't changed at all in the 14 years I've been using it: users still need to have in-depth knowledge to do basic stuff, like install new applications. Things got slightly better, but it's still way more difficult than it should be. Even with a user-friendly package manager you are still faced with a huge noise to signal ratio created by the large amount of applications that might do what you want, none of which are the application you've heard of. And I'm certain that the web-only user is going to want to use a few things other than the web browser.
It pains me to say it, but Dell is right. Ubuntu could be a great web terminal but it still just isn't, and blaming Dell and Microsoft isn't going to change that. Linux is still for experts and keen amateurs, and that's what Dell is saying. Dell (and Linux Hater) are actually doing us all a huge favour by pointing out where improvements are needed. If only we'd listen.
The tao of democracy: the government you can vote for is not the real government.
> users still need to have in-depth knowledge to do basic stuff, like install new applications
1998 called. It wants it's FUD back.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.